The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in relation to natural sciences. The society was originally the Adelaide Philosophical Society, founded on 10 January 1853. The title "Royal" was granted by Queen Victoria in October 1880 and the society changed its name to its present name at this time. It was incorporated in 1883. It also operates under the banner Science South Australia.
The Society had its origins in a meeting at the Stephens Place home of J. L. Young (founder of the Adelaide Educational Institution) on the evening of 10 January 1853. Members inducted to the new "Adelaide Philosophical Society" were Messrs. John Brown, John Howard Clark, Davy, Doswell, Charles Gregory Feinaigle, Gilbert, Gosse, Hamilton, D. Hammond, W. B. Hays, Jones, Kay, Mann, W. W. R. Whitridge, Williams, Wooldridge and John Lorenzo Young.[2] J. Howard Clark was elected secretary. On 15 September rules were adopted and His Excellency the Governor Sir Henry Young was elected president, with Benjamin Herschel Babbage and Matthew Moorhouse as vice-presidents.[3]T. D. Smeaton has also been credited with helping found the Society.[4] Its aim was "the diffusion and advancement of the Arts and Sciences", and one of its earliest subjects of discussion was the formation of a museum showing the natural history of the Colony.[1]
At the time of its first Annual General Meeting membership had risen to 35,[5] and in 1859 the Society was incorporated under the South Australian Institute Act. The establishment of the University of Adelaide in 1875 revitalised the Society, which had flagged for some years before.[1]
It received royal patronage, becoming the Royal Society of South Australia late in 1880,[6][1] following the nomenclature used in other Australian colonies, and perhaps hoping to emulate their success.[7]
The RSSA has published the journal Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia since 1879, previously (from 1877–1878) Transactions and proceedings and report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide.[12] From 2004, the journal partnered with the South Australian Museum in the Southern Scientific Press, amalgamating their two journals.[13] From 2005, the journal has been available in electronic form only, via Taylor & Francis Online.[12]
In June 2020 an annotated list of 95 Australian bird fossils was published in the Transactions, the first such list since 1975, contributing to the documented knowledge of bird extinctions. The list includes three species of huge flamingos from the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre and Lake Frome areas of South Australia, which were estimated to inhabit the area for 25 million years before becoming extinct about 140,000 years ago, most likely from drought. There were also penguins measuring about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall, which lived between about 60 million and 30 million years ago, dying out in the Oligocene.[14][15][16]
"The medal shall be awarded for distinguished scientific work published by a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Australia. It is the highest honour that the Society can bestow on one of its Fellows. Only those who have made a significant, outstanding contribution to their field(s) of study receive the award."[11]
^"Adelaide Philosophical Society". South Australian Register. Vol. XLV, no. 10, 577. South Australia. 7 October 1880. p. 2 (Supplement to the South Australian Register.). Retrieved 3 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Women in the World". The Dawn. Vol. 26, no. 5. Western Australia. 17 November 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 5 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ab"Publications". Royal Society of South Australia. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
^Royal Society of South Australia; Royal Society of South Australia (1938), Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, Incorporated, Royal Society of South Australia, ISSN0372-1426
^Neville Hicks, Helen McIntosh, 'Pulleine, Robert Henry (1869–1935)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, 1988, pp 306-307.
^Tasman Brown, Ruth Rogers, 'Campbell, Thomas Draper (1893–1967)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 361-362.
